Dating While Parenting: What To Do when Your Child Is Attached To Your Ex

Being a single parent is challenging, particularly when one is seeking a romantic partner. What happens when your relationship ends but your child has become emotionally attached to the person you no longer want to be with? We spoke to several single parents who struggled with this issue after a long term relationship ended and children had become attached. In one case,Don, a widower, had a girlfriend, Elaine, who loved his children but after seven years, he realized there were too many incompatibilities to get married. But she had been to family gatherings, graduations, birthday celebrations and sporting events. The new girlfriend wasn’t into his children so much. The children, now in their teens, missed Elaine, who had become like a mother to them. Should he allow her relationship with his children to continue?